


10 Songs About Brandt

by alex_kade



Category: Mission: Impossible (Movies)
Genre: GP is the only one that actually exists for me, Gen, Movie: Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net, Part of The Great Fic Migration, Some are sad, screw everything else, series of drabbles, some are action, some are funny, writing challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-18
Updated: 2020-07-18
Packaged: 2021-03-05 11:35:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25350103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alex_kade/pseuds/alex_kade
Summary: A series of very short drabbles written in response to a song challenge! They're all Brandt focused, but everyone makes an appearance.
Kudos: 2





	10 Songs About Brandt

**Author's Note:**

> Original A/N on FFN:
> 
> "So PeggsterLover did this little thing with Benji as her focus (10 Songs About Benji), and asked if anyone else wanted to accept the mission. I did! Naturally, I ran the mission with my boy, Brandt. As normally I'm a long-winded writer, this was a real challenge for me! It was soooooo fun, though! My music taste is very...eclectic. I had some very interesting songs come up for trying to write Mission fics, lol. If anyone else wants to give it a shot, these are the rules as Peggster posted them:
> 
> Rules:  
> 1\. Pick a character, pairing, or fandom you like.  
> 2\. Turn on your music player and put it on random/shuffle.  
> 3\. Write a drabble related to each song that plays. You only have the time frame of the song to finish the drabble; you start when the song starts, and stop when it's over. No lingering afterwards!  
> 4\. Do ten of these, then post them.
> 
> Hope I did as well with it as she did with hers! Enjoy! (and do play along if you so choose!)"

**1) Daniel Bedingfield (James Dean)**

He flipped the collar up on his leather jacket, slipped on his sunglasses, smiled at his reflection in the window, and stepped into the club.

His target – there she was at the bar, sipping on a martini and flirting with some asshole.

Brandt slid between them, ordered a shot, and turned that smile on her.

"Hi."

One word, one wink behind glasses pulled down just enough to see his eyes. He grabbed his drink and moved away.

She followed.

"That's it?" Benji asked, stunned. "Hi? He says 'hi' and she just…just…trips over her shoes to go after him? That doesn't even make any sense!"

"It's all about attitude," Ethan said with a grin. "Now get ready, she won't like him very much when he puts the handcuffs on her."

**2) Flyleaf (I'm Sorry)**

Brandt sat up in the bed and angrily scrubbed the tear from his eye.

He was stronger than this, he could handle this.

_Everyone failed one, right?_

God, the description of the body, though… He messed up. She was dead, and it was because he messed up.

Never again. Right then and there he made the decision never to do it again.

But then he did… He met up with Ethan and the others and did it again and again and again. Why? Because she wasn't dead, and he could heal; he was still sorry, but he could heal.

**3) Disney Soundtracks (The Bare Necessities)**

"How can you do that?" Brandt asked, staring at the way Benji was smiling.

"Do what?" the tech asked.

"Smile. Laugh. Be generally happy. We're out here stranded in the middle of nature's freezer, our dicks turning to popsicles, and you're acting like we're on a vacation in the Caman Islands."

Benji looked at the igloo he and Brandt had been working on building. "Well, we have shelter on the way, there's plenty of food in our packs, Ethan knows _about_ where we are, and…" He reached into his bag and pulled out a battery-operated space heater. "We have this!"

Brandt blinked for a second before throwing back his head to laugh. "Everything we need, right?"

The day got better from there.

**4) Carl Orff (O Fortuna) – Techno Remix Version**

He leapt off the building and hit the ground hard, but didn't stop running. His team was in trouble, and if he didn't get to them in time…

Shaking the thought away, Brandt double-checked the clips in his guns as he rounded a corner. The warehouse was straight ahead, and two guys were all that stood between him and that door. They never saw him coming.

One went down without ever turning his head in Brandt's direction, the other went for his gun but his hand never brushed the handle. Will didn't even slow down.

He threw the door open and burst inside, weapons up in preparation to shoot anything that moved. There was a click; he ducked and rolled, swinging his gun up to the right, firing a round to take down the enemy. Without pause, he kept going, taking out two more.

Time was almost up, the bomb close to exploding.

"Ethan!" he shouted.

"Brandt! In here!"

He could make it. Sixty seconds left, he could get in and get them out. He had to.

**5) A Goofy Movie Soundtrack (After Today)**

"What were you like as a kid?"

Brandt blinked his eyes open and stared at the tech. "What?"

"In school, you know, were you popular, quiet…nerdy? Who were you before you were super agent William Brandt?"

"Why?"

_Because I need to keep you talking,_ Benji thought, but didn't say as much. He just needed Brandt to focus on something so the agent wouldn't pass out. "Just curious. I mean, here you are, able to run scenarios and remember more people's names and faces than I've met in my entire lifetime – very Rainman, by the way - yet you can also render five men unconscious in seconds and hardly break a sweat. So what were you in school? Jock or nerd?"

Brandt laughed. "Neither. I was a nobody. After graduation, I told myself it would change. After that day, I wanted to be someone worth remembering."

Benji smiled down at his friend. "You are, Will. You are."

**6) Rain (Oh Yeah)**

"Do we really have to do this?" Brandt asked, pulling at the tie around his neck.

Ethan smiled. "You can't do worse than Benji just did."

Will peeked out through the curtain to see the tech's blush as he picked up the clothes strewn about the stage, and at the ladies in the audience who were clapping and laughing.

"What are you talking about? They _loved_ him."

"As the comic relief. Now come on, you're up next. Go give them the show they paid for."

Brandt sighed as the music started up. "I hate you right now. I hope you know that."

With that, he stepped out onto the stage and smiled at the girls, doing his best to tell himself this undercover op was for the good of the universe as they knew it. He also very pointedly did _not_ look at Jane. He'd wuss out if he saw her laughing at him.

The music thrummed along. He walked forward and slid his jacket down his shoulders slowly, spinning on his heels as he reached the end of the stage.

_A strip tease was not in my job description,_ he thought as he did his job, and did it surprisingly well.

**7) Blues Traveler (Just For Me)**

There was no stopping him this time. He was going to do it, and nothing would interrupt him.

"You think he'll actually…?" Benji asked.

"Yep," Ethan smiled.

"Oh yeah, he's definitely going for it," Jane added.

They watched as Brandt did his little warm-up, preparation stretch that never ceased to entertain them. He shook his hands at the end of his "Brandt Dance" and gripped the handle of the hang glider.

Benji cringed back as he watched his friend count down to himself. "Why is he doing this again?"

"Conquering a fear," Ethan replied, a hint of pride in his tone.

Brandt shoved off the edge of the cliff, his yell echoing off the stone walls. Another second later the glider caught wind and swooped along on a draft, and the fear was replaced with genuine laughter.

"I did it!" he shouted, knowing his friends were watching, and glad he could share the moment with them.

**8) Moulin Rouge Soundtrack (Valeria – Rhythm of the Night)**

There was something about Spain that just made him feel _alive._ Everything about the country, about the people – it was like there was a rhythm that everything and everybody moved to, and he couldn't help but be swept along with it.

He walked with his friends through the outdoor market, tasting samples of exotic foods, graciously accepting the flower from the pretty senorita that slipped it into his breast pocket. Benji was laughing at some guy's caricature art, Ethan and Jane were discussing a sculpture of a herd of wild mustangs, and Brandt just breathed it all in.

This is how it should always be. Everyone was safe, happy, just enjoying a nice evening together in a contagiously energetic atmosphere. One day, maybe they could have this for good. Maybe one day, they'd all find their peace.

**9) Israel Kamakawiwo'ole (Somewhere Over the Rainbow)**

Dressed in black, standing on the edge of the California coastline, watching as the ashes floated out into the sunset, three members of Hunt's team kept a respectful distance as the fourth silently let his tears fall.

Ten minutes went by and no one moved. Benji glanced at Ethan and Jane, who looked at a loss as to what to do. Clearing his throat awkwardly, he stepped forward to stand beside his grieving friend at the edge of the cliff, and just listened for a bit to the sounds of the waves crashing up against the rocks below.

"She was the best friend I ever had," Brandt choked out.

"Then she did her job perfectly, right?" Benji offered. "She's in a better place now."

Will ducked his head. "I don't think dogs go to Heaven."

"I do. She's somewhere out there, watching over you just like always."

Brandt nodded, sucked in a breath, clapped a hand on Benji's shoulder in thanks, and headed back to the rest of his makeshift family.

**10) Ryan Calhoun (Who We Are)**

_Dear Mom,_

_Tell Dad I'm fine, I know he worries even if he won't say it._

_I can't tell you where I am or what I'm doing, but I can tell you that I seem to have finally found my place with a new team. We watch out for each other; they watch out for me._

_It's been hard, my work, but I'm making a difference… I'm proud of that._

_I know you want me to get out, to do something safer, but the bruises, the scars, the close calls, they're all worth it. Every hard day is worth it. This is me, this is my life, this is what I choose to do and who I choose to be._

_I hope some day you both will understand._

_I love you,_

_Will_


End file.
